I'm new to this forum. I'm from Ms and I'm one of very few people around my area who have a samurai. So, not many people know much about the samurai. I bought a 86 samurai, bone stock, no upgrades and it has been used without much maintenance done and you can tell it hasnt had much fixed on it. I have it running fairly well now, found all the vacuum leaks and it will idle good now. My problem now is that if I use anything electrical on it, while it is running (lights, wipers, blower switch, turn signals, press brake pedal....etc, it will almost, automatically stall. As soon as I apply more voltage to the samurai, it instantly dies. The lights and signals and all will work, and if I give it more pedal, it will try and stall, but I can keep it going, as long as I gas it. I considered a wire being grounded out. But I was wondering if it could be the alternator. It has a brand new battery also. And one more thing. As soon as I use any electrical component, my temperature gauge elevates to hot and as soon as I turn off the electrical component, the temp gauge goes back to normal. I would appreciate any help, in any way. Cause we all know how expensive it can be, to just buy things and replace, hoping we find the problem. THanks

The temperature gauge operation suggests a bad or missing ground between the engine and the chassis/battery negative, and that bad connection may also be the cause of the stalling.

The Sami has an "idle up" mechanism that brings the idle speed up to compensate for the increased load on the alternator - there is usually a solenoid operated vacuum switch that pulls in a diaphragm which opens the throttle plate.

Ok. Thanks alot! I'm used to working on fords and chevys. I will check to see if some of my grounds arent connected or not connected well. I was worried that it was a piece I found, that was mounted to the passenger side firewall, that the wires were busted on. Its a cylinder shaped piece that is mounted on both sides to the fire wall. Has a plug on it that has two wires going to the harness. Been trying to identify it. Either way, thank you so much. Going to try that out!

I just figured I would update what was wrong with my samurai. I found a ground wire, that was coming from the distributor and grounded at firewall. There was a plastic connector that connected in the middle of the wire, that connector was broken on the inside and wasnt connecting. I cut the wire and spliced it, runs like a charm. Thanks for your help

Well - that does qualify as a gorund wire between the engine & the chassis.  Check around the starter/bell housing area, there should be a heavy cable attached somewhere there, possibly under one of the starter bolts, and running either to the chassis or the battery negative (or both) make sure it's connected.